Jason Cypret Videography » Canon

Julie & Kit’s Wedding Story

Jason Cypret — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:59:24 +0000

Time for round 2 of Julie & Kit totally awesome wedding extravaganza. You saw a bit of what Julie & Kit were about with their wedding highlights. This wedding was a blast all because J&K are on a HNL (whole notha level). They put together a fabulous outdoor wedding with and 80's style throwback.

Julie & Kit's wedding was held at Teresa Choate's fabulous outdoor venue in Rocket, TX. The wedding went off without a hitch because of the excellent planning of Teresa. Julie & Kit are not your traditional wedding types, these two radiate passion and fun and it shows throughout their wedding. Julie does Calligraphy and Kit is a cartoonist, and their wedding reflected their whimsical style. In fact their wedding topper was drawn by Kit.

The part I loved the most about this wedding was all of the fun J&K had. They busted out glow sticks and jammed out to some rockin' 80's beats. Julie & Kit, thank you for letting us be a part of your special day. I hope we stay in touch!

Canon’s 5D Mark II: First HD Footage is Awesome!

Jason Cypret — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:52:17 +0000

If you read last post you know that I am extremely interested in Canon’s new 5D Mark II . This is the first digital SRL from Canon that actually records video as well. Not just crappy SD video, but full 1080p. The best part is that you can use regular canon lenses to give you a high end film like video.

If your still a skeptic check out the first actual video footage from the camera. This footage is not from Canon marketing team, where it no way represents what you could actually shoot. This footage was shot by regular Joe’s that do not work for Canon. I am astounded by the quality and am going to start saving up to get one. Again this camera is not out yet, but its coming out soon!

Canon announces XH A1S & XH G1S

Jason Cypret — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:18:33 +0000

My favorite camera company strikes again. Canon announces XH A1S and XH G1S prosumer HD camcorders. I have been on the fence lately on which model is going to be the winner in our decision over HD cameras. I was highly leaning towards the XL H1S or the XL H1A, however the new XH A1S and XH G1S is more up our alley.

The HDV XH A1S and XH G1S both feature a 20x HD video lens, manual zoom / focus, three independent manual adjustment rings, an "unprecedented" range of image / color settings, 60i / 30F / 24F frame rate options, Instant AF focusing system, the DIGIC DV II proprietary digital signal processor, two built-in XLR terminals with separate audio-input sensitivity settings, line output level switching and support for optional HDD recording in the field. The XH G1S adds in HD-SDI / SD-SDI output, SMPTE timecode input / output, and genlock input, which are all features that probably won’t be missed by greenies baffled by the mere mention of those inclusions. Via Engadget.

When I think of pairing this up with our current mini HD, the Canon 5D MKII, and two of these bad boys I will be set for a great quality wedding videography shoot. The best part about it is that all of the other Canon gear works perfectly with all the new offerings. Canon once again you’re making it very hard for me to look at other offerings, keep up the good work!

Read the full press release here:

Canon 5D MKII – Perfect Wedding Video Camera?

Jason Cypret — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:37:45 +0000

If you didn’t know I am a Canon guy. I use Canon’s exclusively for my photography, and I also use them exclusively for wedding videography. However, I have not been able to use all the great lenses I have in my photography arsenal. That is until now. The new Canon EOS 5D MKII have finally been announced. Whats ho special about this camera you ask? How bout the fact that it shoots video. Further more it shoots video at 1080p.

Canon most likely announced this camera to combat the Nikon D90, which also shoots video. The 5D captures HD video at a resolution 1920 x 1080 video at up to 30fps, and the new, higher ISO setting — 25,600 (this is in an extended mode. The maximum in normal mode is 6400).

I cant wait to see some test images come out so I can see for myself how it looks. I am also curious how quickly a memory car will fill up.What I would most likely use it for is close up shots, the type of shots when the depth of field I will get from an SLR would be amazing.

Canon has equipped the EOS 5D Mark II with two Silent Shooting modes in Live View which will prove particularly helpful to law enforcement officials, and for behind-the-scenes shooting on movie sets.

Canon EOS 5D MKII should be available soon at a price tag of $2,700 body only. What do you think. Is this camera worth buying for my wedding videography?

Key Specifications:

New 21.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor with improved EOS Integrated Cleaning System (E.I.C.S.)

New Full HD 1080 resolution movie recording

3.9 frames per second continuous shooting

High performance DIGIC 4 providing superb image quality

Maximum 310 large JPEG images in a single burst with a UDMA card

3.0″ VGA (920k dots) Clear View LCD

ISO 100-6400 (expansion from 50 up to 25,600)

9 AF points + 6 Assist AF points

Review of the Sony XDCAM ES – HD Camera

Jason Cypret — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:22:47 +0000

I usually don’t post about reviews other people have done, however I feel the review from Izzy Video on the Sony XDCAM EX is one to share. If you read my previous post you know that I am a big fan of Canon products. I have almost all Canon equipment. However I do know many “prosumers” swear by Sony’s camera lineup.

I am currently deciding which HD camera to bring home. I am strongly looking at the Canon XH G1, or the XH A1, but this Sony XDCAM ES. Izzy Video is a great place for reviews and knowledge surrounding videography. I subscribe to his podcast and never miss a show. This review discusses all of the features that the Sony XDCAM ES has. You can find his review below:

My new camcorder is the Sony XDCAM EX. Although this seems to be what everyone’s calling it, the actual model number is Sony PMW-EX1. In this installment of Izzy Video, I give a miniature video review of the new camera.

If you haven’t heard of this camera before, I should let you know that it’s pretty revolutionary.

You can get Izzy Video 75 here.

Behind The Scenes – What I Use

Jason Cypret — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:51:47 +0000

So I get asked from time to time by very knowledgeable clients, "what are you using for production"? While I would love to add the systems, programs, and equipment I use, to our FAQ’s page it really wouldn’t work because I find I am constantly upgrading my equipment. I will however give you a quick list of what I am using right at the moment. I’m sure this list will be outdated in a month (Christmas is almost here).

If you have read any of my other blogs you realize that I am a proclaimed Apple fan-boy. I am actually writing this post from my iPhone . So of course our studio is a 100% Mac production house. I have a Mac Pro, a Power Mac G4 (fully upgraded, it still runs good), and a Mac Book. I have dual screen setups on both towers. I use Xgrid to help with rendering projects quickly. At the heart of it all is Final Cut Studio 2. The programs I mainly stick to are Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Motion, Soundtrack Pro. I haven’t really used Color that much as I love Magic Bullet Colorista, and Magic Bullet Look Suite. I love it.

The cameras I use are two Canon GL2, and one Sony (who’s model number escapes me). These cameras have been perfect for me as they are identical to the XL 1S but without the option to change lenses, and the GL2 has a LCD screen. I have shot lots of weddings and have never really found an instance where I needed a longer local length. Other people’s experiences may vary. Of course we have a Canon light w/ a diffuser, Canon WD-58H wide-angle adapter with hood, an extreme fisheye lens, and remote controllers. I love Canon products like I love Apple products, so I am planning to upgrade my cameras soon to either the Canon XH G1, or the XH A1. Once this whole format war is figured out. However I am in the Blu-Ray camp right now. I use Sennheiser Wireless mics. I have 2 fluid head tripods. Lastly I also bring along My Canon 400D Digital Camera. We take great DVD cover shots that we include all stills in any package. If I start going into my digital camera equipment we will be here all day. I’m probably missing a gadget or two but this is a good rough estimate.

If you are looking to get into videography I suggest getting a decent 3CCD camera, a tripod, and a wireless mic to start out. Do your editing in iMovie or Final Cut Express. With a eye for detail and great shots you can get your start. Then start to upgrade everything.

Chelsea and Jay’s – Before & After with Photoshop

Jason Cypret — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:48:31 +0000

I received an email from a reader named Paul. He wanted to know if used photoshop on the image I snapped at Chelsea and Jay’s Wedding. I told him I did and he persuaded me to publish my steps and post a before and after. Well I don’t think this is the forum for a full out tutorial. However, I will post the before and after images, and let you know what filters I used to come up with my final result.

First off I want to say that photoshop is not an excuse to not try to take the best picture possible. I think having a good understanding of your camera, and some knowledge and rules of photography can go a long way. With that being said photoshop can help save a bad image if need be. Take the before image below. I did not have my flash with me, the exposure was off, and it was dusk.

As you can see there is not allot of good things you can say about this image right now. Now comes photoshop. My fist step was to use the shadow and highlights feature. Next I used a awesome program called noise ninja to reduce some of the noise from the overall image. Next I used an adjustment layer and added a curves adjustment. Knowing how to use curves can dramatically change an image. Next I applied an adjustment layer for levels and brightness and contrast. This made a difference, but the color was just not popping, so I added a color balance, and a hue saturation adjustment layer to make the color pop. I still wasn’t getting enough from the greens and yellows, so I added a selective color adjustment layer to make those colors really stand out. Last and probably the most important I added a vignette layer and changed the layer to soft light. That was it. I thought it turned out ok, I probably could tweak with it some more but knowing when to quit is a virtue.

Thanks for the questions Paul and thanks for following through our RSS feed!